As if we didn't already know at $30 billion annually video games is big business. Two major business rags are each running articles on the upcoming console transition. Forbes has a piece that is more a survey of the existing landscape. Business Week looks more at the challenges Sony faces in light of its missteps and increasingly potent competition. Buried in each are signs that, while most attention is on the current and upcoming consoles, PC gaming is becoming strategically important to the independent publishers.

"[EA] is making the most of its presence in the PC gaming arena. This strategy, which includes acquisitions of Swedish studio DICE--maker of the Battlefield PC games--and multi-player online gaming company Mythic, as well as the eventual launch of Will Wright's Spore in 2007"

One of the obvious advantages of developing a game on a console platform is the conformity of the hardware install base. With all the flak EA has received over Battlefield 2142, is EA's strategy of focusing on the PC smart?

I wasn't going to buy BF2142 anyways, but certainly not now that there's advertising in-game, and all this talk about gathering information, and having to remove a Microsoft update that fixes a hole in security. The Dice explanation, while nice, isn't good enough for me, as the basic reality is that "spyware" or no, unless we say no to games like this, video games will gradually become like movie theaters, filled with advertising.